We’re Going to Put Opioid Legislation on the President’s Desk

Washington, D.C. – House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA-23) spoke at a leadership press conference on the House’s upcoming legislation on defense, appropriations, and Zika, as well as the House and Senate conference committee to negotiate opioid legislation.

“Good morning. We had a very busy week last week. As the Speaker talked about, the 18 bills—bipartisan—that we were able to deal with on opioid abuse. We have the same goal in mind as the Senate. I thank the Speaker for appointing me to the conference. We look forward to working with our Senate counterparts and get this done as quickly as possibly and on to the President’s desk.

“We’re following up with a very busy week last week with another busy week this week. You heard from Chairman Mac Thornberry (TX-13) and Elise Stefanik (NY-21) from NDAA. It sets the course of putting our military back on the right track—the ability for training to have the resources that they need. And I want to emphasize the 2.1% cost of living increase that our military men and women deserve.

“Besides that we’ll have the MilCon/VA bill on the floor. I want you to look at what we’re doing when it comes to the VA. Watch in there that we’re funding, dealing with suicide, and, just as important, the backlog that is happening on our disability claims. There’s a great deal of work in this—something that I’ve personally focused a great deal on.

“And thirdly, Zika. We’ll have $622 million added to the almost $600 million already funded for Fiscal Year ‘16. There are 113, as of the latest, pregnant women in America that have Zika. This is something that we have to continue to make sure we have the funding for to do the research. This will be more than a billion, $1.2 billion, just in this year. We want to get to the appropriations process that we’re starting this week, funding into FY17. We want to make sure that we’re able to find the cure that is needed to deal with Zika.”